Step 1. Define Your Audience(s)

This is a step that people often skip right over, but it's an essential part of effective web development. Who your audience is (or in some cases, multiple audiences) can affect everything from what your website looks like, how the elements are laid out on a page, how the text is written and how your site is marketed. Knowing your audience(s) early on can prevent costly revisions later in the process.

Step 2. Set Your Goals and Objectives

You may be taking for granted that your website needs this or that element because you've seen it on other sites. But after examining the goals and objectives of your site, you may discover that you don't need that element after all. Or you may discover that elements you hadn't considered are essential. As with defining your audience(s), it's best to set your goals and objectives at the beginning of your project. 

Step 3. Site Planning

Rather than jumping right into creating your site, it's worth taking a moment to plan how your site will be created. What will it look like? What colors should be used? What font(s) would work best? How should the elements on a page be arranged? Where should sidebars go? Doing all this on paper, in Photoshop or in PowerPoint in advance can help Step 4 go far more smoothly. This is also a good time to plan the marketing of your site launch. When is the best time to launch your site? (What is the best time of year? The best day of the week? The best time of the day?) How will you let people know about the new site? Via Facebook? Twitter? Email? Advertising?

Step 4. Site Development

Now comes the work of actually creating the website. This includes setting up a database, building the pages that make up your site, adding text and images (and video if appopriate) in the correct places. Typically, this is done at a staging URL, separate from the final URL you intend to use. For example, if your final site will be located at domain.com, your staging site may be located at test.domain.com.

Step 5. Site Testing

This is an absolutely essential part of the process. Every page, every link, every form on the site must be tested. Go through the site as if you're a member of your target audience. The point of the testing process is to discover errors, because if you don't find them now, your visitors will find them after you've launched your site.

Step 6. Site Launch

Finally your site is ready to launch. The site database and files will be uploaded to a space on your host's server. Your final domain (e.g. domain.com) will be directed to that server (a process that can take up to 48 hours). And when that's all done, you'll need to let the world know about the launch via whatever means you planned for back in Step 3.

Step 7. Site Maintenance

Once your site has been launched, your work is not done. In fact, your work is never done. If visitors notice bugs or glitches, you'll need to get them fixed. If visitors find some of the text or layout confusing or difficult, you'll need to address that. And you should constantly be finding new ways of driving visitors to your website.